Let's Open Our Eyes

Answering the call of Blog Action Day and my inner-self

:What is poverty?


To me poverty is hunger, poverty is thirst. It is houses made out of polybags, made on dumps. Poverty is the constant sufferings of the parents, constant crying of the infant. It’s the cause of dropping out from elementary school. Poverty is the devil which forces children as tender as 7 to look for ways to make some money. Everyday I see many street children, younger than my younger brother, trying to sell cheap flowers and bottles of water, during the traffic jam, to ensure that they can avail themselves the next meal. You can almost feel the fear of uncertainty in their eyes. That’s poverty.

I’m not talking the talk which is talked in the T.V. or in the newspapers, I am saying what I see everyday. Each day I see at least two hundred day laborers standing by the road beside the market, waiting for someone to offer them some work to do for that day. And you know what… they will get just a little over 2 USD (150 BDT) for a days hard labor. Yes, that’s poverty.


:What can we do?

I know through personal experiences and observations that we often choose to ignore the dirty facts about this “beautiful” world of ours. Does choosing not to see do us any good? I don’t think so. Like everywhere else, in my country to, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider by the minute. There is nothing connecting these two groups of people except exploitation (in most cases). Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s the way I feel.

Actually I can’t tell how we can REMOVE poverty. But I know that raising awareness about it (blogging and talking) can be a good start.

However, I can give some advice which can lessen the acuteness of the effect of poverty.

1. Give charity/donate money.
2. Help people to get on their feet.
3. Feed some hungry kids once in a while.
4. Bear the educational expenses of a needy child if you can/as long as you can.
* Don’t just think about your own family.
* Let's believe that we can bring a change.
* Don’t ignore. Come, let’s see…

That’s all for now. If you like this post then feel free to comment and subscribe. Let me know your thoughts about this global issue.

Peace
Irtiza


Related posts:
I Do My Part
We Can Bring A Change



24 comments:

  1. man u are doing a great job...but i think its not enough....u must write more things in this post...i know u have thought a lot to write this little one..but many issues are missing...but most importently i must say welldone

    ReplyDelete
  2. shahalam@ thanks, ya i also got the feeling that i can add some few things. this foreign language puts some limitations infront of me u know- cant express everything. shah parhaps u can share the missing things as u also live in bd...

    thanks for your comment

    ReplyDelete
  3. Irtiza, what a great post on poverty. It's a wonderful reminder of how we all should do more to find solutions. It's a global problem.

    Melinda

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melinda@ thanks for your comment.

    i believe together we can fight it

    ReplyDelete
  5. hi! you are continuing to produce very sincere and heart to heart blogs which I find worthy of praise.

    Your parents will be extremely proud of you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Annie@ thanks for your comment...

    i doubt that they will be proud of me. she doesnt like me spending time on the internet. infact she hates it. and she never read it. so...

    peace my friend

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's really happy to see your continuous effort to do something for the good things! Keep it up! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. ETW@ it's the help and support from bloggers like you that keeps me going

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think it is the small efforts made by many people that brings change, vs. just one big effort made by one person. Everyone can do something to help, even if it's something as small as donating a gently used item of clothing, or working with Habitat for Humanity to put some nails into the flooring of someone's future home. Great post!

    ~Kristi

    ReplyDelete
  10. Awesome summary and a great reminder.

    After seeing what poverty looks like in Bombay, I cannot imagine how things are in Calcutta and Dhaka.

    ReplyDelete
  11. kristi and jaffer thanks for your comments. hope to see u again

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice work. Your point is very eloquently made. If you feel like reading another on the subject: http://idiotsstew.blogspot.com

    Not as nicely written, but the heart of it is similar. You are to be commended for your good work in working against this issue.

    Thanks
    IB

    ReplyDelete
  13. ib@ thanks. i've read your post. it's nicely written and you have pointed out some ways to lessen the effects of poverty. i enjoyed reading it. hope to see u again.

    peace

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi... we are same, get involved to Blog Action Day. Hope this global movement will raise the awareness against poverty.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Interesting blog, definitely subscribing. Hope you'll give mine a look sometime too. Though mine is certainly lacking the world view aspect, maybe I'll post one soon...
    //Psychon

    ReplyDelete
  16. @tinko & psycon, thanks for your time.

    tinko i enjoyed reading your post on this subject. thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gaia is a forum based discussion site that ended up going from being populated by intelligent, albeit young people, to stupid people of every age. D:

    Thanks for stopping by Life of the Virus!
    //Psychon

    ReplyDelete
  18. That was a good, thought-provoking post. Thanks for sharing! My first experience with seeing poverty like that was when I visited Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. It was an eye-opening and life changing experience!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks so much for publishing this post and submitting it to Bloggers Unite. I lived part of my own childhood in abject poverty and I will never forget what it feels like to be hungry and to be without hope. That's why I do everything I can in my own community to see that basic food needs are met.

    ReplyDelete
  20. @MMK, thanks for your visit.

    @TT, u r most welcome. i hope you never have to go through it again. i appreciate you effort tt. carry on.

    keep blogging friends.

    ReplyDelete
  21. May I pose the question - if all people are born equal in that even in your country you have rich people as in any other country as you have poor people - why is it that some are living in poverty and others are not - can the people help themselves more?

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Total Chat, I presume that you are saying that people should help each other more to eradicate poverty and elevate the standard of living.

    otherwise, i couldnt understand the question fully. so i am unable to answer. sorry.

    thanks for your comment. hope to see you soon.

    ReplyDelete